The Case of the Flea Market Fiasco
by perrymasonbuff
Summary: This is a try at fanfiction. Perry Mason is the best attorney of all time hands down. This is an attempt at my take of another mystery that he will solve with the help of his ever faithful friends and partners Della Street and Paul Drake.
1. Chapter 1

John Sullivan was busy setting up his table for the Flea Market on this bright and sunny Sunday morning. The flea market was located in a popular spot in the heart of the city. John made his money selling glassware and stamps. It was a strange combination, but they were both things that he loved to collect.

Each piece of glassware had to be handled carefully, as it was old and came from what was called the depression era mostly. Some of the pieces were extremely fragile with extensions on many of the pieces. He looked over at his friend Fred who was setting up his things also. They always set up together. He sold mostly old toys and some antique clothing.

The Flea market opened every Sunday at six in the morning, so the two men had already been up since three. It was customary for them to arrive at the Flea Market at around nine the night before, where they would visit with fellow vendors and then take a short sleep, waking up very early in the morning to set up their tables. The two men were used to sleeping under the truck in their sleeping bags. They had come to thinking about it as camping out.

One of the problems with this Flea market, was that the spaces were first come first serve, and this time John and Fred had a flat tire on the way to the market. They had arrived late and their regular spot was taken. They had tried to speak to the man who had parked his truck in their spot, but he refused to move. There were some words said and many people had heard the argument.

John had settled down and gone to his other site. He was still located next to his friend Fred, so that they could watch each others tables if one of them needed a break of some kind. The location was not the best, but it would have to do. The next time they would check the tires of the truck before they left.

As everyone was busy setting their tables up John did not see Mark Styles coming up to the table. He was yelling at John at Fred wanting to continue the argument that they had been involved in before. "Just because you are a regular gives you no right to demand a certain space. You have my wife all upset and she wants me to move and give you the space." he shouted at them.

"We are not here to argue with you. We are like you just vendors. We will be here next week and go back to our old spot. I am now almost completely set up and am no longer interested in the regular site." John told him.

"Well, maybe I want this site now." With that he tipped John's table over causing many of his items to break or crack. With the swiftness of anger John ran over to Mark and in a split second had the man on the ground.

Fred was quick but not quick enough to stop the blow that connected John's fist with Mark's face. When he pulled John from off of the top of Mark, Mark now had a bloody nose. Fred yelled at him to leave and Mark stared John down, but left as he realized that blood was now pouring from his nose.

Someone had called the police and when they came over they spoke to both of the men and the witnesses. It was noted in their log, but neither one of them were arrested. John wanted him charged with destroying private property, but the police said he would have to bring him to small claims court. John picked up all the broken dishes and took many pictures. 'Yes, indeed he was going to take him to small claims court and he was going to win.' he thought to himself.

Even though the weather was warm and the sun shone bright the entire day John had very little to sell. His heart just was not in it and he started to pick up his meager sales at just after noon. Fred knew that there was no reasoning with his friend and started packing his boxes at the same time. The two men left at two that afternoon four hours earlier than their normal time.

The ride back to their homes was dismal and neither one of them spoke much the entire forty-five minute ride home. This was not normal as the two men were the best of friends and usually the conversation was lively. As they pulled into the driveway of Fred's house his wife Linda came out. She was surprised that the men had come back so early. The weather was beautiful and they usually had lots of customers on days like this.

As John pulled into the driveway of his house, he was met by his wife Nancy. Linda had called her and told her what had happened at the flea market that morning. Nancy knew that her husband was not a hot tempered man usually and was surprised that her husband had punched the other man. As she stepped out of the house she went over and started to help her husband unload the truck.

John was surprised to see his wife helping, she usually wanted nothing to do with the flea market. He was thankful and as he filled the shed with the broken glass, Nancy grimaced. She could hear all of the broken glass and knew that John was very angry. Once the truck was unloaded Nancy went inside to make dinner while John went and worked on the computer. She thought that he was calming down and that everything was going to be all right, but...

Every person does something foolish at least once in their life and John Sullivan was no exception. As he had gone by his usual spot he had taken down Mark Styles truck plate number. With that he went on to a site on the web that gave him the address of the registration. He thought that he would need the information so that he could sue him for the broken dishes he rationalized to himself.

After dinner John told Nancy that he was going to the store. But in fact he was going to go by the address of Mark Styles. Mark lived in a single family home in a nice part of town and his truck was parked in the driveway. He saw that there were signs of a family living there. He stopped for just a moment and then he saw Mark Styles coming out of the house yelling at him. "You stay away from my house and family" he shouted at him.

"Sorry sucker I just needed to verify your name and address for court." John shouted back.

Larry Clark was out in his yard watering the lawn when he saw and heard the two men shouting at each other. He did not know why but he noted the man in the trucks' plate number. He was going to call the police perhaps, but the man in the truck had left right away.

Perry Mason was seated at his large desk located in the heart of LA in a building called the Brent Building. He looked up to see his trusted personal secretary coming into his office, Miss Della Street. She had been busy in her own office working on some briefs and she was bringing them into his room for his signature.

Mr. Mason was now a famous attorney who specialized in murder cases. But, he also helped many people with other legal issues. He was never too busy to help a friend, though and today was no exception. He had been helping a friend out with a will and was doing so at no charge.

Perry Mason was a large man with big dark blue questioning or threatening eyes. When he looked at you, it was as if he was looking at your soul. Almost all of his cases had been solved by those eyes.

Della was a young and very efficient secretary. She was the right hand of the office and was someone that Perry would never want to lose. She was paid well for her job and worked many hours overtime. She was tall and slender and always wore high heels. Today was no exception as she waited for his signature.

John Sullivan had never found himself in need of an attorney, but he soon would be needing one. Nancy and John lived just down the street from a good friend named Paul Drake. He was a private investigator and John thought about asking him to look into this man Mark Styles, but no he would just take him to court for the damage that had been done to his items.


	2. Chapter 2

Paul Drake sat in his home office. He and his wife Marcia had just bought the house, and it had been their hope that he would be able to spend more at home with his wife and little boy. Paul Junior was now a noisy two year old who loved to come into his daddy's office. As he looked up to see his wife and little boy he smiled.

Marcia had met Paul five years ago, while working at a local store. She had fallen in love with the man who was tall with premature white hair and a very kind voice. He had impressed her with his manners and she had fallen in love with him almost the day they met. They had been married just a little over three years before and little Paul had come along a year later.

Marcia smiled and asked her husband if he needed anything at the store. The office in the home was working great. Before he would be gone all hours of the day and night and now he was home most of the time. Her husband was a private detective and was well known for his investigative know how. She was proud of him. As she headed to the store she smiled with pride.

Perry Mason was working late at his office as he did many nights. He found himself alone in the large office and could hear the sounds of the building as it made the sounds of life, the life of a building. He had told Della to go ahead home, because all that he had to do now was to dictate some briefs towards a trial that he would be involved in during the next few days. It was past eight when he finally made his way back to his home.

As John Sullivan went out to his shed to take a real look at the things that had been broken by that man Mark Styles, he was mad. He was into the shed in the back when he heard a nose. He turned around and saw Mark Styles standing there. He turned and told him to leave right now. But all the man did was laugh. All I have to do now is come here when no one is at home and steal everything in this shed." and with that he left.

So now John was forced to buy a security camera for the shed . The next day he put the camera in and went to work. Everything was fine when he got home, and he thought that perhaps Mark Styles had been just blowing hot air. He had no idea what his problem was until he starting thinking about something.

John had once dated a girl named Danielle Styles. They had a bad break up and he had gone on to get married to someone else. Danielle had been very possessive and had not allowed him to do anything. One night she had just gotten out of hand and he had just walked out of the door never to go back again. He wondered if Mark was related to her or something.

That evening he got a call and the answer to his question. On the phone was Danielle. She wanted to know what on Earth he thought that he was doing? Her brother Mark would not put up with any crap from him. She advised him rather strongly to leave her brother alone.

This was when he called his neighbor Paul Drake. He needed to know what was going on and make sure that he could get some kind of protection for him and his family. This man Mark Styles was definitely weird and maybe dangerous. Paul promised that he would look right into it and get back to him by next week. "Don't have anything to do with the man and if he comes again call the police." Paul warned him.

As Paul hung up the phone he thought of the name Mark Styles he had heard that name before. He started to search his computer website to see if there as anything in there. He knew John to be a good family man and he wanted to help him.

But that night while Mark was watching television he was also watching his security camera. On the camera he saw Mark Styles. As he went downstairs to challenge him, he watched as his truck drove away.

John went up the stairs to the house and went inside. He was pacing the floor and wondering what he was going to do about this man. He thought of calling Paul so he did, but he got an answering machine. He then picked up the phone and started to call the police, but did not. He went to the store then and as he pulled in he ran into Mark once again. This was totally by accident, he was going to the store to buy some lottery tickets. He thought that scratching the tickets might calm him down.

As he pulled the truck in, Mark came out like a bull. He had seen John coming in and had called the police. The police were behind John's car before John knew it and they were demanding that he put his hands in the air. As he was frisked John was very embarrassed. Most of the people at the store knew him. The police told him that he had been warned to stay away from Mark just a couple of days before and this time he was going to go down to the station.

This was one of the worst nights of the year or life for John Sullivan. He had never been threatened with arrest, let alone arrested. As he sat in the cell waiting for his wife to bail him out, he thought of the mess he was in. He needed a lawyer and a good one.

That evening rather night, John got home and sat down to have a beer. His wife had left for the store, when the phone rang. It was Danielle and she told him that she needed to see him right away. She wanted to tell him something about her brother. John agreed to meet her at a local store in the parking lot.

As John got into his car, he drove the three miles to the store. There at the end of the parking lot was Danielle Styles car. As he approached it, John saw that it was not Danielle in the driver's seat it was Mark. But as he pulled up closer he saw that Mark had been shot, right in the head. The scene was gruesome and for a minute he thought about leaving. But then the police cars surrounded him. They had gotten a call about a loud argument at the parking lot of this store, and there was John the man that had just been bailed out of jail for harassing Mark Styles.

As the police looked into the car they saw the gun. They also noted that John looked a mess and he had gloves on. They took him into custody right there. From the police station he called Paul Drake this time. Paul picked up the phone and called his friend Perry Mason. There was another murder mystery and a client who had been wrongfully charged.


	3. Chapter 3

Almost from the start the police thought that they had open and shut case. After all John Sullivan had just been released from jail from an assault on this man. Now here in the parking lot lay Mark Styles shot in the head and they had caught John Sullivan right there.

As John was once again brought to the police station, he knew that he needed an attorney and a good one. This was murder and he called his friend Paul Drake.

Perry Mason was just getting ready to leave the office with when the call came in. For just a second he thought of letting his answering service answer the call, but then he picked up the phone. It was Paul Drake, a good friend of his , and once more he had a client at the police station under suspicion of committing a murder.

With that Perry left the office right away and headed out to the police station. This was something that Perry Mason did quite a bit. As a famous criminal lawyer, he was well known at the police station. The station was dark and dingy and the sergeant at the desk called down to the detectives. Lt Tragg met him there and the two men walked down to the holding cell where John Sullivan was waiting.

As Mr. Mason went into the room he took one look at John Sullivan. He was not a bad looking man in his thirties, but he looked as though he had a very bad day. His hair was an absolute mess and his clothes looked as though he had slept in them. As he listened to the man's story, he believed him. Perry Mason was a man of feelings, and he went with his gut with most of his clients. John Sullivan was a friend of one of his best friends and he believed that he was innocent.

Perry Mason promised that the next morning he would do his best to get John out of jail, but he would have to spend the night there. He patted him on the shoulder and told him not to worry.

But now, there were several briefs to be done and he needed Della his private secretary. As he placed the call he was pleased to hear her voice on the other end. Della was the best in the business and as she sat at her kitchen table she wrote down all the information that she would need. After working for Perry Mason for the past three years., she was never surprised to get a call from him after hours. She also had copies of the papers that would be needed for court at the house. She would begin typing them up and right away. Perry dictated the information over the phone as he headed over to see Paul Drake.

The first thing that he wanted to know was why Mark and not Danielle was in the car. Then he wanted a complete investigation into who Mark Styles was and what his real problem was with John Sullivan. Something was irritating the man to the point where he was seriously harassing John Sullivan. What kind of man was he?

As Perry walked up the Drake home Paul opened the door. They took a seat in his study and went to work. Paul had done many investigations for his friend and knew exactly what to do. He had some information on Mark Styles already. Mark was a troubled man who had been in and out of trouble with the law since he was a young man. He had two convictions for assault and one for robbery. He had been arrested for drunk and disorderly twice. He also had a on and off girl friend by the name of Marcia Stevens. When he had been killed they were off again.

Never one to miss a beat Perry took in each piece of information and would keep it in the front of his mind until the murder was solved. He headed to Della's house and was greeted at the door. He took a seat at the kitchen table and started to go over the briefs. Della had almost finished all of the briefs that he would need in the morning and as usual there was not one mistake on any one of them.

Court was set to be at ten o'clock the next morning. Hamilton Burger, the district attorney himself was in the courtroom . As Perry Mason and Hamilton Burger shook hands on this warm Las Angeles morning, you could feel the tension between them. It was a rare occasion that Perry Mason lost a case but this case seemed open and shut to the district attorney's office. But, with Perry Mason you could never tell.

The court went into session and Judge Maryanne Deane was presiding. Maryanne had been a judge for the last seven years and had seen both Perry Mason and Hamilton Burger at work in her courtroom. Both men were excellent lawyers and smart as they come. It was just that Perry Mason had an uncanny ability to tell if a client was innocent or guilty and she was always fascinated to hear his theories on a case.

As John's family came into the courtroom, Perry could see the concern on their faces. Paul introduced them and Perry assured them that he would do everything he could to make sure that John was allowed out on bail.

As the arguments began on the subject of bail, the district attorney's office did not want any bail. John Sullivan had been released from jail not two hours before the murder. "He is a dangerous cold blooded man who should remain in prison for the rest of his life." Hamilton Burger argued.

"Your honor John Sullivan is a local family man with his family here in court. I am prepared to show that he is an innocent man who came to the parking lot because of a phone call. He is not a flight risk. He wants to stay here and take care of whoever murdered Mark Styles.

Judge Maryanne Deane thought and allowed bail, but set it at one half a million dollars. This was going to mean that John and his wife were going to have to take out a second mortgage on their house. But, they did not want John to stay in jail. The trial might not even start for a few months.

That afternoon John Sullivan was released on bail and as Perry Mason had asked him went right home. "Do not do anything talk to anyone, or go anywhere without consulting me. Do I make myself clear" Mason asked him.

That was a tall order for John, he was not one to just sit there and let the world go by without getting involved, but Mr. Mason was right, this was a battle for his life.


	4. Chapter 4

As Perry Mason and his secretary Della Street headed back to the office, they stopped to grab a bite to eat. Court had run -late and as they stopped to get a bite to eat at a local restaurant Della finally got a chance to take a break.

Working for a busy attorney such as Perry Mason could be very tiring, but extremely rewarding. He was a very demanding boss, but was generous also. She liked the life where she never quite knew what she was going to be doing at any given time. Many nights she worked late, she had even been out in the car with her friends Paul Drake and Perry observing people.

Perry could see by the look on Della's face that she was deep in thoughts. She had a good head on her shoulder and was instrumental in solving many of the cases that he had been involved in. She was a brave lady and would go anywhere that he and Paul went. He smiled at her and said "Back to work"

The job of defending a client on the charges of murder was a very difficult task. Very few murderers wanted to get caught. Most would do anything that they could not to get caught. This was the way that it was with this murder. The murderer was more than likely no one that they had even thought of as of yet. There was now a real reason to think that perhaps the murderer was a woman.

As Della took her seat at her own desk, she filled out many more papers and then began to look more into the man who had been murdered. He was not a pillar of the community, of that she was sure. But, why was he at the parking lot and not his sister? She wanted to look more into the sister. After all she had been left by John Sullivan for another woman and 'what was her relationship with her brother' she wondered.

Meanwhile Paul Drake was working on looking into the sister also. Danielle had been taking care of her brother ever since he was a young man. Whenever he had gotten into trouble she had covered for him. He had been instrumental in the break up of her and John Sullivan also. Mark had never quite grown up and he had not wanted to lose his meal ticket.

Mark had a job, but never had any money. He was constantly broke and late on payments. Danielle was always making payments for him and most of the time never saw any of the money. The car that he had been in when he had been killed was two months behind in payments.

As Della looked into Danielle's finances she found that the lady was nearly broke. She did not have that good of a paying job and her brother had taken her for everything that he could. She had to borrow money from a friend to make ends meet his month. She and Mark had a huge argument over the money and she had asked him to move out of her house.

Paul was watching the neighborhood where the Styles lived. It was not one of the better parts of town and he could see that some of the low lifes were hanging around the Styles home, even though Mark was now passed on. They could be there giving their condolences but Paul wondered.

That was when he saw Barry one of the guys that worked at the fast food restaurant where Mark had worked go into the house. He was wondering why he had come to the house, and he was only in there for a few moments. That was when Paul decided to follow him. It was strange, because Barry went right to the bank afterward and deposited a large sum of money. He had followed the man into the bank and wondered where a man who made minimum wage would get a large sum of money like that.

The rest of the day went normally and at about eight that evening the familiar knock on the door came and Della opened the door to find their friend and private investigator Paul Drake standing there. As Paul took a seat in the large room he told them of the man that he had seen stop at Danielle's house and how he had deposited a large sum of money into the bank shortly after the visit. "I am looking into where he got that money. But his friends at work say that he has been bragging that he had a large sum of money coming soon."

Perry was pleased with this information. This made it sound as though perhaps Barry knew something about the murder. "Go and talk to this man Barry. Try to put some pressure on him and see if he will tell you anything." Perry told him.

"I will be doing that tonight. Our friend Barry gets out of work at ten and he will have a visit from me and one of my men just afterward." With that Paul got up and left the office leaving Perry Mason and Della Street alone. Perry smiled at Della and told her "You look tired. Tomorrow is another day. Why don't you go home and get a good nights sleep."

Della was glad that she was going to be able to go home, she was tired and when she got home she could spend sometime at the computer. Perhaps on one of the social websites she could find something that would give an answer to the question of who murdered Mark Styles.

She had spent the last few nights keeping an eye on the websites and had found nothing, but she was now interested in that man Barry that had once worked with Mark. She would start there.

Perry gave Paul a call he thought that perhaps he would like to be there when Paul talked to Barry. Something told him that the young man did have something to be said and heard and he wanted to be there when he was approached.

Barry was at work smiling to himself. He knew that Danielle Styles was worried about what had happened to her brother. She also knew that who had killed him, might want to harm her. But she didn't want anyone knowing that he had seen her in the parked car with her brother that night. He had been at the mall when he had seen Mark's car and gone over to talk to him. Danielle and Mark were in the middle of a heated argument and within a half an hour he was dead. She had given him one thousand dollars to keep his mouth shut. The money was in the bank now and he was going to get more from here before he was done.


	5. Chapter 5

As Perry Mason and Paul Drake waited outside of Barry's home, they watched him pull in. As they confronted the man he seemed surprised. After all it was after ten at night and what did these two men want? He had a feeling that they were important as they were both dressed in suits.

The two men introduced themselves and told him that they wanted to talk to him. He had started to turn away and say that he had nothing to say. But Perry Mason told him "Look we can talk her or in the courtroom it is your choice,"

Barry knew that he had been caught. He had heard of the lawyer Mason. He was the best in the business and was perfectly capable of bringing him to court and making his life miserable. He turned around and told them "All right I am listening."

The other man Paul Drake spoke this time "Look, I know that Danielle gave you money to keep your mouth shut about something. What was it?" As the man looked at him with a deep stare Barry attempted to act cool and deny what he said. But he was not that good a liar and he was no match for these two men.

He looked them square in the face and told them "I saw Danielle in the parking lot at the mall just before the shooting."

Perry Mason then asked him "Did you see anyone else? Did you speak to them?"

"No, they were fighting and I left but they saw me and she didn't want you to know that." Barry told them.

"What time was this?" Paul asked him.

"It was about ten minutes before the murder." Barry told them.

"Is there anything else you need to tell us?" Perry asked.

Barry shook his head no. He had left and gone home. It was not until the next morning that he found out about the murder when he had watched the news.

So now the two men wanted to go and see Danielle. They knew that it was late, but if she was awake they both wanted to speak to Danielle that night. As they pulled up in front of the house, they saw the lights on. The two parked the car and walked up the front walkway.

Danielle had been up pacing all night. She was very worried about Mark's murder and was surprised to hear the front doorbell ring. She looked up at the clock and saw that it was ten forty-five. 'Who would be knocking at my door at such a late hour?' she thought to herself.

When she looked out the glass on the side of the outside door she was surprised to see Perry Mason and Paul Drake standing there. She opened the door and welcomed them both into the house. The two men took a seat in the living room and she sat across from them. Danielle was so nervous she knew something was happening and she hoped that Barry had not said something. 'Why did she ever give him hush money?' she worried to herself.

Perry was the first person to speak "Danielle, we spoke to Barry tonight and he told us something interesting. He says that he saw you and your brother parked in the parking lot together the night of the murder. He says that the two of you were having an argument. Why didn't you tell us that you were there on that night?"

Danielle knew that she had been caught. It was embarrassing. She had never done anything wrong her life, and now she was being blackmailed. She wasn't very good at it, though, she had been caught right away. She looked at the men and said. "I admit it. I was there. We were arguing about John and I got out of the car and left. I was so mad at Mark that I walked home that night." she told him.

Perry looked at her and asked "What were you arguing about Danielle?"

With that Danielle looked down at her lap and decided to tell them the truth. "You see John and I had been girl friend and boyfriend several years ago. About six months ago we met up again and started to have a relationship together outside of his marriage. But John did not want to keep the relationship going and broke it off two months ago. That was when I discovered that I was pregnant. He wants nothing to do with the baby and says that he doubts the paternity. That is what Mark was so mad about and the reason why we were arguing. He wanted John to do the right thing and at least acknowledge the baby." she told them.

Perry had suspected that something like this might have been the problem, but unfortunately for his client this made him look even more guilty. Paul looked at Perry and the two men walked out the door with heavy hearts. There had to be something else to this murder and they were going to find out what was going on. The two men home and thought that they would have to start from square one the next morning.

But meanwhile Della had gotten home and had been looking into more social media information. She was about to give up when she found a fight, a real brawl, that was taped just two weeks before the murder by a neighbor. The fight had been between Mark Styles and his neighbor Larry Clark. The fight had to be stopped by John's friend Fred of all people. Della saved the tape and would show it to Perry early in the morning. It was almost midnight, and she didn't want to call him this late at night. She knew that there was a good chance that he was awake and actually lifted the phone, but thought twice about it.

Perry Mason went home and his thoughts kept him up very late that night. He was missing something. He was missing something very important and court was to begin in just three days.


	6. Chapter 6

As Della came into the office that morning she looked around. She was there about an hour before Perry came in and she went through the mail. There was nothing in there very important. She had just put the mail that she thought her boss might want to see when he came in through the back door.

He smiled at her and told her good morning. He went over to his desk and picked up the mail. "Anything new?" he asked as he noted that Della looked as though she was going to burst. He knew the look well, it usually meant that she knew something and wanted to tell him.

Della smiled at her boss. She was used to him nearly being able to read her mind "Perry you know that I have been on the computer looking up things through the social media. The people on social media sites don't realize that what they are posting can be seen by anyone. Sometimes I find things that surprise me and last night was one of those times."

Perry watched her as she opened her laptop and showed him the video that she had found. When the video was done he sat back and told her "Interesting. Have you told Paul about the video?"

"Not yet. I left a message on his answering machine to come to the office when he came in." Just then there was a knock on the back door and Della let Paul in.

As she showed Paul the video he shook his head. "Yes, I thought that something was wrong between them. I will check more into this definitely and get back to you on it." Paul told them.

Paul left and went directly over to Larry's house. He sat outside and watched as nothing happened for a while. But then Larry's wife came out and she and her husband were having an argument. Sharon, Larry's wife got into the car and left. Paul decided to follow her and see where she was going. Sharon went directly to a storage shed . As the lady went in Paul stopped his car down the alleyway and walked around the corner. In the shed there only one container. As Paul watched the lady open the container, he saw what was in it.

There in the container was a body. No kidding she had opened the container and was now trying to move it. As he hid around the corner, Larry came with another man. The three men with much difficulty lifted the container onto the truck. Now Paul knew that there was going to be a real problem soon. The body had been kept in a refrigerator type storage unit and now they were taking it out to the hot sun.

Paul called the police immediately and started to follow the men. They were driving at a normal speed trying their best not to be noticed. But they thought that they had spotted Paul as he followed them. Paul was experienced though and when he saw that they were making turns that were not needed he went straight ahead. He knew that the street would end up at another location, so he went there and waited in the shadows.

The police were on their way and as Lt Tragg heard the news about Paul Drake he took to his office to listen in on the radio. He heard that Paul had found a neighbor of one of his murder victims at a storage unit and that Paul was in pursuit of the three occupants of a car. He said that the people in the truck had a body in a container and that they were headed into the mountains.

It was common knowledge that the woods and mountains were huge in LA County and that it could take them weeks to find a body if it was hidden there. The police were on their way.

Meanwhile, Paul was on the phone with Perry and letting him know what was happening. Perry shook his head, he had thought about going with Paul that day, but had too many preparations for the court to do and the office was very busy.

Perry turned to Della and told her what was going on. Her eyes grew very large and she tried to listen but could not hear very well. Paul then got off the line, because he saw the truck going by and behind the truck were two police cruisers in hot pursuit.

As the truck attempted to make a steep right turn, it lost control and struck a tree. As the police surrounded the truck, the occupants got our dazed but all right. Paul came around the corner and showed the police the container with the body in it. As the opened the container, there they found the body of a young man.

The police took the three men into custody and down to the police station to the waiting eyes and ears of Lt Tragg. He had lots of questions for these people. But 'who was the man in the container? How long had he been there and how did he die?' were the questions that he wanted to know first.

As the three of the occupants of the car were brought into the police station they were put in separate rooms. The first person that Tragg wanted to question was Sharon Clark. He thought that she was probably the most innocent one and might be the easiest to break.

As he walked into the room he found a stone faced Sharon sitting at the desk. He talked to her for over an hour and she denied everything. He finally had found out who the man was in the container, though. His name had been Matt Riley and he had been reported missing over six months ago. First examination had determined that Matt had been shot.

Lt Tragg then went in to talk to Larry Clark. Larry was sitting there quietly and looked up when he saw the man come into the room. After about forty-five minutes of questioning Larry caved in. He could not live with himself and what he knew for any longer. The man in the container had tried to rape his wife. Sharon had come home and told him what Matt had done and he had gone to his home to confront him.

But Sharon's brother was told also and he had not just wanted to talk. He had gone to the house with him and forced Matt into his car. They had brought him to the woods, near the storage shed and beat him. That was when he had tried to run and Donnie had shot him as he ran. They had known about the storage place and had rented a unit, telling the people that they had some items that needed to be kept frozen.

But, Mark Styles had heard about the alleged rape charge and then saw how Matt was missing. He had figured out everything. When Sharon had gone to his house to try to get him not to go to police. He had turned around to say that he had no choice, and that the law would probably go easy on them when she killed him. He had ripped her button off of her sweater when he tried to stop her.

With that Lt Tragg knew the truth and gave a call to Hamilton Burger and then Perry Mason. Mason's client was now a free man. They had found the murderer.

As the three friends Perry Mason Della Street and Paul Drake sat in the office they celebrated and decided to go out to dinner together. But on their way they stopped to tell John Sullivan what they had found out and everyone then had a reason to celebrate . Case Closed.


End file.
